Council funding, Historic Environment Scotland and Scottish Land Commission information: FOI release

Information requested

1. In terms of council funding, how much money does the Scottish Government supply per head of population of each local authority?

2. All correspondence received by the Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, briefing notes, minutes and notes from any meetings held, about the resignation of the Historic Environment Scotland chief executive Alex Paterson, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

3. All correspondence received by the Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, briefing notes, minutes and notes from any meetings held, about the appointment of a new chair of the Scottish Land Commission, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. How many applicants have applied to become the next chair of the Scottish Land Commission?

5. All correspondence received by the Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, briefing notes, minutes and notes from any meetings held, from or mentioning Michael Russell, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI. If this costs too much, narrow it down to November 1 2023.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested below.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, in the information provided in relation to questions 2 and 5, we have redacted work and personal telephone numbers and the names and contact details of all staff below Senior Civil Service (SCS) level. This is formal notification that we are unable to provide all of the information you have requested and an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. An exemption under 38(1) (a) - Personal data of the applicant also applies to attachment 1 to email 31. These exemption are not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption(s) under section(s) s30(b)(i) free and frank advice; s30(b)(ii) free and frank exchange of views has also been applied to the information in relation to question 5. These exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in the release of communications with Parliamentary committee clerks, however, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring future effective working with Parliamentary committee clerks.

The answer to question 1 of your request is enclosed with this letter.

Regarding question 2 of your request, I enclose a copy of the information you requested.

In relation to question 3, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The scope of the information you requested was broad a identified a large number of documents. The time taken to identify this information and apply redactions in an appropriate manner would exceed 40 hours of work, which would cost more than £600. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. This could be done by narrowing the timeframe (for example to 1 November 2023) or being more specific about the subject matter requested. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

The answer to question 4 is that there were 7 applications for the position of Chair of the Scottish Land Commission.

Regarding question 5 of your request, I enclose a copy of the information you requested.

Some of the information you request will also shortly be publish in response to another FOI request, which you will be able to see here: Publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300390302 - Information Released - Annex

File type

74 page PDF

File size

1.8 MB